British Accents Ranked from Easiest to Hardest (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to English  with Lucy. Today, we are going to be talking  

about the big topic of accents, in  particular, the accents that you guys  

find to be most difficult to understand. Now,  when it comes to accents, you can't just say,  

"This one's easy, and this one is difficult." It  doesn't work like that. It all depends on where  

you're from and what you're used to, what you're  used to hearing. I speak English with a modern  

received pronunciation accent, and lots of people  tell me that they find it very clear and easy,  

but that probably is because my accent is an  accent that's commonly taught in schools. You  

might hear it in films and TV shows quite a lot.  One of the most important things that you can do  

if you want to improve your comprehension  and improve your English listening skills  

is to familiarise yourself with as many accents  as possible. And this is such a fun task.  

As a starting point, I thought it would be really  fun to identify some of the accents that learners  

of English commonly find hard to understand so  that you can focus on familiarising yourself with  

them even more. In order to do this, I created a  survey. This is just for fun, it's not scientific,  

but I think it gives quite a good indication. I  took 10 celebrities who speak 10 of my favourite  

accents and I took little clips of them speaking.  I then asked my students on my email list to  

tell me, on a scale of zero to 10, how easy they  found it to understand that little bit of speech.  

I averaged the scores, I've put them in order,  and I'm really, really excited to show you the  

results. To make this even more interesting, I  will play each clip twice, once without subtitles  

and again with subtitles so that you can test  your own understanding of each accent clip.  

Obviously, there will be many variables,  the speed at which the person is speaking,  

the setting in which they're speaking, whether  it's formal or informal, but hopefully,  

it will give you a good idea. As always,  there is a PDF that goes with today's lesson.  

It's got all of the information that I share  today, plus links to the full clips and some extra  

bits as well. If you'd like to download that,  just click on the link in the description box,  

you enter your name and your email address, you  sign up to my mailing list, and then immediately  

the PDF will arrive in your inbox. And then every  week after that, you will automatically receive  

my lesson PDFs. You'll also receive all of my  news, updates, and offers, and the opportunity  

to participate in any future surveys. You don't  want to miss out on that important research.  

Now, a lot of the clips that I'm going to show you  come from TV shows, mainly British TV shows.  

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let's get started with the video. So we have 10  accents and the person who's ranked number 10,  

IE, the easiest to understand according to my  students is Queen Elizabeth the Second, of course.  

It helps a lot that she speaks  very, very slowly, and this was a  

formal broadcast. Let's have a listen. King James may not have anticipated  

quite how important sport and games were to  become in promoting harmony and common interests.  

But from the scriptures in the Bible which  bears his name, we know that nothing is more  

satisfying than the feeling of belonging to a  group who are dedicated to helping each other.  

And now, let's listen one more  time with subtitles on screen  

so you can check how much of it you understand. King James may not have anticipated quite how  

important sport and games were to become  in promoting harmony and common interests.  

But from the scriptures in the Bible which  bears his name, we know that nothing is more  

satisfying than the feeling of belonging to a  group who are dedicated to helping each other.  

So the queen speaks the Queen's English. She  speaks with a received pronunciation accent on the  

very top posh end of received pronunciation. Now,  this is an accent that is traditionally regarded  

as the standard for British English, but  things are changing. Originally, this accent  

was called public school pronunciation. And  public school actually means private school.  

So an independent school in the UK. State school  is education paid for by the government. Public or  

private school you pay for yourself. So this  is an accent that was traditionally learned.  

And it's quite interesting because it doesn't  have a specific geographical location. It was  

originally spoken in public schools all across  the British Isles. It was kind of a sign of class.  

A couple of decades ago, the majority of  what you would hear on the radio and on  

the television would be received pronunciation.  But now that is not the case, and rightly so.  

Let's move on to number nine. And this is  a very attractive, to me, celebrity. It is  

Jason Statham speaking in his gorgeous Cockney  accent. I know a lot of you are huge fans of  

the Cockney accent. Let's have a listen. And you have to accept that. At the end of the  

day, we shouldn't be moaning because we're  hired actors. You come in, you get paid,  

shut your mouth, do you work, and go  home. It should be a little bit of that,  

but sometimes you want to try and get involved and  you try and collaborate and get things done.  

Can we just have a moment of  appreciation for men rocking bald heads.  

Absolutely loved them. Right, let's listen again  with subtitles and see how much you understood.  

And you have to accept that. At the end of  the day, we shouldn't be moaning because we're  

hired actors. You come in, you get paid,  shut your mouth, do you work, and go home.  

It should be a little bit of that, but sometimes  you want to try and get involved and you try  

and collaborate and get things done. Okay, adore this accent. It originates from  

the East End of London. Supposedly, you were only  a true Cockney if you were born within earshot of  

Bow Bells. Within earshot means within listening  distance, within hearing distance. And Bow Bells  

are the bells in a church, a historic East London  church. Now the East End of London is changing.  

And a lot of the people who were born there or  who grew up there are moving further out to Essex.  

So it was very interesting to me to see that  number eight was the Essex accent. So let's play  

a clip of that. We have a celebrity called Gemma  Collins, who I personally adore. She is so sassy,  

so entertaining. If I ever feel sad, I look  at her top moments on YouTube because, oh,  

what character, she's just completely herself. I have become one of the biggest reality stars  

in Britain. I am a global icon.  It's weird, but that's the GC.  

That is the GC. And that's what I do. I make great  

TV. I provide you with entertainment. And I kind  of explain it to people, it's like Paul O'Grady  

and Lily Savage. It's how I make my money. She's so confident, isn't she? I loved the guy,  

Eamonn Holmes' face as she was praising herself.  Brilliant. Let's listen again with subtitles.  

I have become one of the biggest reality stars  in Britain. I am a global icon. It's weird,  

but that's the GC. That is the GC.  

And that's what I do. I make great TV. I  provide you with entertainment. And I kind  

of explain it to people, it's like Paul O'Grady  and Lily Savage. It's how I make my money.  

Okay. So the Essex accent is found in and  around Essex. A lot of people from the East End,  

originally Cockney, did move to Essex or are  continuing to move to Essex. It is like a  

mixture of the Estuary accent and the Cockney  accent. It's become incredibly popular over  

the past decade due to a TV show called The Only  Way Is Essex. It's a reality TV show that follows  

young people in Essex, very glamorous people.  And Gemma was one of them and her career has just  

exploded. Okay. Moving on to number seven,  we're going to another country. We're not in  

England anymore. We are in Wales and it is the  Cardiff accent as spoken by Charlotte Church,  

who is an opera singer. Well, I suppose in terms of  

the film Under Milk Wood is such an incredible  play. Dylan Thomas' writing is so unusual.  

Yeah. And I'm quite a newbie to acting.  I've done bits and bobs in the past.  

Very interesting there. Can you hear her say  unusual? Where I'd say unusual. So it's almost  

like she's adding in an extra syllable  there. And she also said incredible with  

an R sound I struggle to do. It's like a  rolling R sound. I love listening to the  

Welsh accents. They're very melodious to  me. Let's listen again with subtitles.  

Well, I suppose in terms of the film  Under Milk Wood is such an incredible  

play. Dylan Thomas' writing is so unusual.  Yeah. And I'm quite a newbie to acting.  

I've done bits and bobs in the past. If you are interested in learning a little  

bit more about the Welsh accents, then I highly  recommend a comedy called Gavin and Stacey.  

Actually goes quite well with this video because  it shows an Essex family and a Welsh family  

joining because the son and the daughter are  getting married. Hilarious, some fabulous  

Welsh accents in there. Let's move on to  number six. It's the Yorkshire accent as  

spoken by Louis Tomlinson from One Direction. Basically, me name is Louis, but I didn't love  

it when I was younger. Once I was old enough, I  don't know why, I just didn't really love it. So  

I got known as Louis, all me friends from home  call me Louis. And then I get there... Is this  

close enough? Sorry. And then I get there  on me first day at the X-Factor with Simon  

and all the judges, and he called me Louie. So for me, one of the most distinctive things  

about his accent is that he says me instead  of my. "Me name," instead of, "My name."  

That's really distinctive to me where I'd say,  "Love," he says, "Love." "I didn't love it,"  

but for me it's, "I didn't love it." I find this  accent very warm. Love. Yeah, it's just lovely,  

isn't it? Let's listen again, but with subtitles  so you can see how much you understood.  

Basically, right, me name is Louis. But I  didn't love it when I were younger. Once I  

was old enough, I don't know why, I just didn't  really love it. So I got known as Louis. All me  

friends from home call me Louis. And then I get  there... Is it close enough. Sorry. And then I get  

there on me first day at the X-Factor with Simon  and all the judges, and he called me Louie.  

Did you also hear him not pronounce the  H in home? He said, "Home." I would say,  

"Home." From home from home. I'm not sure if  that's quite right. From home. I need a bit of  

help with my Yorkshire accent. Another thing I  noticed, he said, "I were," instead of, "I was."  

"When I were younger." "When I was younger,"  is what I'd say. That's part of his dialect.  

Okay. Number five. So this is sort of mid range  in difficulty for you. It's the Brummie accent,  

which is the accent from Birmingham. And  we have Adrian Chiles speaking it.  

So anyway... Actually, when they're trying to get  me to come on here, they give a list of all the  

brilliant people you've had on in the past.  That has the opposite effect on me. I said,  

"We get Richard E. Grant and stuff. Why would  anybody be interested?" So, anyway, that's my,  

I suppose, that's my tip of humble- You were just the best I could get.  

Many a true word said. So Adrian doesn't actually  

have the strongest Brummie  accent that I've ever heard,  

but if you find him hard to understand, he  is speaking quite quickly here. So if you're  

managing to understand him, you're doing a really  good job. Let's listen again with subtitles.  

So anyway... Actually, when they're trying to get  me to come on here, they give a list of all the  

brilliant people you've had on in the past.  That has the opposite effect on me. I said,  

"We get Richard E. Grant and stuff. Why would  anybody be interested?" So, anyway, that's my,  

I suppose, that's my tip of humble- You were just the best I could get.  

Many a true word said. Also, how awesome is that sign  

language interpreter. She was really conveying the  comedy quite well. Now, as lovely as this accent  

may sound to you, this is actually one of the  British accents that faces the most discrimination  

within the country. There is another one that I'll  talk about as well. When people run opinion polls,  

it often comes up as one of the most disfavored.  Very interestingly, when they run similar opinion  

polls to overseas visitors, so non-native English  speakers, the Brummie accent seems to do quite  

well. They find it very melodious. This implies  that it does badly in polls because of prejudice,  

rather than a genuine dislike of the sound of  it. I'd be interested to know your thoughts and  

to know if there are any accents in your country  that you think are kind of unfairly regarded. I  

know that living in Spain, I learned Spanish with  an Andalusian accent. And I have definitely been  

on the receiving end of criticism. Some of it I take as well-meaning. A lot  

of it comes from people from other countries  who were saying, "Ah, this sort of accent's  

ugly. You should learn my accent." But it can  be quite hurtful to be honest because that's  

the accent I speak with now. Let's move onto  the next one. You've rated this as number four.  

And I know I shouldn't have favourites, but I  think I can. This is my favourite. I absolutely  

love the way this accent sounds. And  I love the person who has this accent.  

It is the Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud. It's just  a blessing on the ears. It really is. She speaks  

with a Derry accent. Have a lesson of this. I enjoy cooking, baking, and stuff. Working  

with flour and making sweet things. I'm  not so used to more savoury chopping.  

When you just zone out, you put your music on  and you just chop. Just chop loads of stuff.  

Does anyone else want to just chop and cook with  flour with her? It's just lovely. See if you can  

notice that where I would say flour, she says  something more like flyer. And she also says  

making instead of making, as I would say it.  Chopping, chopping, really, really distinct  

differences. Let's listen again with subtitles. I enjoy cooking, baking, and stuff. Working with  

flour and making sweet things. I'm not so used  to more savoury chopping. When you just zone out,  

you put your music on and you just  chop. Just chop loads of stuff.  

Lovely. Truly lovely. Love it. Let's move on to  number three. We have another Girls Aloud member.  

So you voted these two quite high up on the  difficulty scale. Cheryl speaks with a Geordie  

accent, which you'll find in the city of Newcastle  and the surrounding areas. Let's have a listen.  

We did three hours the night before. So there's a  girl out there called Charm who I used when I did  

my own solo tour. I just absolutely adore  her. I love working with her. And we did  

three hours with those girls and those girls  were sick. So I was just watching them the  

whole time like, "I want to do like her." She's so softly spoken and she speaks really,  

really gently. Let's listen  again with subtitles and then  

I've got something to say about this accent. We did three hours the night before. So there's  

a girl out there called Charm who  I used when I did my own solo tour.  

I just absolutely adore her. I love working with  her. And we did three hours with those girls and  

those girls were sick. So I was just watching them  the whole time like, "I want to do like her."  

Did you hear her use the word sick? I think  I've mentioned it in a video recently. It's  

a slang word for cool. I remember finding it  very confusing as a child because I thought it  

meant bad, but that's sick is that's really  cool. Okay. So I wanted to talk a bit more  

about accent discrimination here because Cheryl,  I remember she was in the news quite a lot. I'd  

say around 10 years ago, she was a judge on the  X Factor a singing talent competition in the UK.  

And she was invited over to the US to be a judge  on the US version. And then she was quickly  

fired from it, supposedly. And apparently it was  due to the producers being worried that her accent  

would be difficult to understand. Now, I don't  know if this was just to generate publicity,  

but it sounded pretty harsh. I remember feeling really bad for her at the time.  

I feel that even if her accent was kind of  new to viewers of the X Factor in the US,  

they would have gotten used to it quite quickly.  So I don't know if I agree with that decision,  

but I imagine that it was just for publicity.  Maybe this was all decided before. Right, let's  

move on to number two. Number two is a comedian  that I am very fond of. His called Frankie Boyle.  

He tells the most outrageous jokes. He really  pushes the boundaries and oversteps them quite  

frequently, but he speaks with a Glaswegian accent  from Glasgow in Scotland. Let's have a listen.  

My cousins, when I was growing up in Ireland,  their dad was a fisherman on a trawler in Ireland.  

And he would go away for two weeks at a time.  And I remember thinking that's the worst thing  

you could possibly imagine, is that your dad's  going to just disappear for two weeks. And now,  

two months would be quite standard on a tour. Very, very distinctive tour.  

I'm not even going to try to mimic  it. This for me is one of the hardest  

accents for me to mimic. One thing I find quite  distinctive is that where I would say is they say  

as, or instead of kind for me, they  say kind. Let's have a listen again  

with subtitles. See how much you picked up. My cousins when I was growing up in Ireland, their  

dad was a fisherman on a trawler in Ireland. And  he would go away for two weeks at a time. And I  

remember thinking that's the worst thing you  could possibly imagine, is that your dad's  

going to just disappear for two weeks. And now,  two months would be quite standard on a tour.  

And the last accent, the accent that you voted  as hardest to understand. In all fairness,  

I don't think I gave you the easiest clip.  He's speaking very quickly, but his name's John  

Bishop and he speaks with a Scouse accent.  And there's been a lot of press recently  

of people who speak with a Scouse accent coming  out and talking about the discrimination they  

faced. Let's have a listen to the comedian, John  Bishop, speaking with his Scouse accent. Have  

a listen to those distinctive features. See, I've wrote about them in the programme  

called Generation Z. Because I  have given them a full title.  

Because I'm old enough to call things by the full  title, rather than yourself who's gone Gen Z  

Yeah. That's also the only clip with music in the  background as well. So I'll bear that in mind for  

next time to make sure it's as fair as possible.  However, it is a very distinctive accent. When he  

says, but I, he almost says barra. It's very hard  for me to reproduce. He almost rolls his R sounds.  

Another thing I notice is when they say things  like school or cool, they tend to say it school  

or cool. Almost adding in an extra syllable. See, I've wrote about them in the programme  

called Generation Z. Because I  have given them a full title.  

Because I'm old enough to call things by the full  title, rather than yourself who's gone Gen Z.  

Right. That is the end of today's video. Those  were the 10 accents that you helped me rank from  

easiest to understand to hardest to understand. I  really enjoyed making this video. I love looking  

at the ins and outs of lots of accents. I'd love  to make another video like this. So tell me if you  

enjoyed it and if you'd like more. Don't forget  to download the free PDF that goes with this  

video. It's got links to all of the full clips so  that you can explore more of the accents that you  

like. Just click on the link in the description  box, enter your name and your email address,  

and you sign up to my mailing list. You'll  receive PDFs every week, along with my news,  

course information, and updates. Don't forget  to check out NordVPN at nordvpn.com/lucy.  

You can take advantage of their amazing offer. You can connect with me on all of my social  

media. I've got my Instagram and my website,  englishwithlucy.co.uk, where I have a really cool  

pronunciation tool where you can click on phoneme  and hear pronounced those phonemes and words that  

contain those phonemes. It's very fun. E,  word, no. I've also got my personal channel  

where I document my life here in the English  countryside. There are some big changes going on,  

so it could be interesting to watch.  All of the videos are fully subtitled,  

so you can use them for listening practise  and to improve your vocabulary. [inaudible  

00:24:11].I will see you  soon for another lesson.